Day Nine - Yosemite National Park

We woke up at 7am in our great little B&B and got organised for a day in the National Park. But before we set out we had breakfast cooked for us with the the two other guests (a kiwi couple). The breakfast was very American and ENORMOUS as you'd expect. We piled into fresh waffles - I had mine with strawberries and cream as I did when I was in America as an eleven year old and I ate this every day the fat pig that I was. We still made room for eggs, bacon, hash browns, coffee, juice and a fresh banana/mango smoothie! I feel sick just thinking about it but it was fantastic! You'll be glad to know that this served as both breakfast and lunch as we didn't eat again until about 8pm!

Jo enjoying her freshly cooked waffles and maple syrup. Mmmm syrup.

The National Park was about 20 miles away so we drove, paid our $20 entry fee and went exploring. The place is just breathtaking. Everywhere you look, it is just spectacular view after spectacular view. The road twists and turns and at the beginning, we were pulling over every 5 mins to take a picture!

Jo and the first waterfall we found

We headed for the Valley area and took a walk around - the place is just so vast it makes the Blue Mountains look like someones backyard. We spent most of the day driving, stopping, walking to different places. We're lucky that we got to see the many waterfalls in action as for the past few years they've been dry.

Waterfall in full effect

We decided as we were going to have to drive through the park again tomorrow that we'd go up to Glacier Point as it's a dead end road so it made sense to do today. As you wind up to around 9000ft the temperature drops, you can see plenty of snow that hasn't melted in the summer heat yet. The view from Glacier Point is amazing - you can see down into the Valley below where we were earlier in the day and also across to Half Dome - the huge granite mountain.

One of many amazing views

The park was very busy as it's summer and some of the roads aren't open in winter. Some places we stopped we really struggled to get parking but once we were out of the Valley area (where most of the camping spots are) it got a little less crowded. The place apparently gets booked up for lodgings/camping spots up to a year in advance which is why we stayed a few miles out.

Our Hertz "NeverLost" GPS - yeah right.

A small part of the National Park behind us

The weather was perfect - bright and sunny all day. To the point though that after about 8 hours, we were getting a bit tired of the sun being right in our faces all day! I put my hoodie on and Jo had a her jacket wrapped around her to keep the sun off her arms. Good job we did too, as we'd be burnt to a crisp by now!

Sunny day, clear skies, beautiful surroundings

We headed out of the park (with no help from our handy GPS!) and headed back to a little town called Groveland for dinner. A yummy steak, veggies and baked potato went down a treat before heading back the B&B completely exhausted and ready for a good night sleep.